Lawyers deny man headed illegal video poker business

Attorneys for Michael "the Large Guy" Sarno today denied the Westchester resident headed a ring that ran an illegal video poker business and fenced stolen merchandise on the South Side and suburbs.

In opening statements in the racketeering trial of Sarno and four co-defendants, attorneys each took shots at the corrupt cops and career criminals who will take the witness stand against Sarno.

Casey Szaflarski, left, an alleged co-conspirator in the trial of Michael "the Big Guy" Sarno, returns from lunch break at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse today. (Nancy Stone/Tribune)

Last week prosecutors said that Sarno and co-defendant Casey Szaflarski ran a lucrative video poker franchise, a business they allegedly defended by bombing a rival operation's Berwyn storefront in 2003. Charges also allege Sarno was the head of a ring of jewelry thieves who fenced their stolen wares at a Cicero pawn shop owned by co-defendant Mark Polchan.

Key to the government's case will be testimony from another former co-defendant, Mark Hay, a longtime burglar facing a lengthy prison term for robberies when he made a plea deal with prosecutors, said Damon Cheronis, Polchan's lawyer.

Hay, Cheronis said, went on to commit 20 more burglaries while cooperating with investigators against Polchan and Sarno, Cheronis alleged.

"You're going to hear, and the government won't dispute, that they were double-crossed (by Hay)," Cheronis said. "(Hay) is the smile and the handshake before the knife," he added later.

Szaflarski's attorney, Catherine O' Daniel, said her client purchased required licenses to operate poker machines in bars and taverns and that the alleged illegal payouts to players came from bar owners themselves. Those same tavern owners and bartenders will testify against her client with immunity from prosecution for their roles, O' Daniel said.

"Number one, every one (of the machines) was completely legal... and number two, they all were labeled 'for amusement only,'" O'Daniel said.